Linklaters has become the first Magic Circle firm to announce how many trainees it is keeping on this Autumn, posting an impressive 93% retention rate.

The firm made offers to 54 of the 57 trainees qualifying this September, with one trainee turning it down. It is Linklaters' highest retention rate since Autumn 2011, which also saw a 93% rate. When pressed by RoF, the firm was unable to identify any year in which it had retained a greater percentage of trainees.

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Linklaters partner Nick Rumsby told RollOnFriday, "This very good retention rate reflects the confidence we have in our trainees and the levels of busyness within the firm”. In Spring its 'busyness' requirements led to an 86% retention rate (50 out of 58), which was broadly on a par with Allen & Overy (84%) and higher than Freshfields (80%), but beneath both Clifford Chance (94%) and Slaughter and May (95%).

However, as the exciting graph below illustrates, while the retention rate has generally improved over the last few years, Linklaters' intake size has been shrinking. There were 18 fewer spots in the intake qualifying in Autumn 2014 than in the intake qualifying Spring 2009. However the firm is not alone in shedding training contracts: A&O cut its annual intake from 120 trainees to 85 over a similar period, and downsizing is still happening across the market.



RollOnFriday will be keeping track of retention rates across the board: if you know your firm's stats, write in.
 
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Comments

Anonymous 28 July 14 14:42

About the same rate Bernard Matthews records for his annual Xmas turkey intake. I'm sure the turkeys are delighted.